Downloads for FreeFileSync - 69888 downloads last month

Description

FreeFileSync is a free, open source folder comparison and synchronization software for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. It also works on 64bit operating systems on all platforms. The program can be installed in two versions: as a standard installer on Windows or as a portable application (no registry entries). Powered by a clean, easy, intuitive interface, this tool offers a myriad of features for synchronization purposes.

Those are just a couple of its features (not all), there are many others that are improved and added constantly.

FreeFileSync Review

Important: Please pay attention when you're prompted to install toolbars or any other third-party program that doesn't belong to FreeFileSync - you can choose to "Agree" or "Decline". If you choose to "Decline", NO other third-party software will be installed on your computer.

As soon as you install FreeFileSync, you will notice a clear, uncluttered interface. If you never used this program before, you should look at the help section. From the program interface, press the "Help" tab or F1 and the help file will open. The author of this program (Zenju), was kind enough to provide an excellent help file.

At the "Overview" section he made a basic usage map, including the necessary steps in order to use this tool. I won't cover a basic usage tutorial - as I said, the "Help" file does a great job but here's what the program do - in my own vision. Choose two folders (located on different partitions or devices) and it will compare and synchronize them. Obviously, the application allow you to choose between several synchronization settings. Each synchronization variant is briefly described in the settings window. If you need to include or exclude filters go to "Filter files" section. When you're ready to synchronize files, hit the "Synchronize" button. You can start to compare and synchronize files in a matter of minutes, there's no doubt. "Easy to use" is a concept that can be found at many applications but for FreeFileSync this is just another plus.

The real power of this program lies in its features. Just a few examples that worth to be mentioned: it can create batch files for automated synchronization, it can copy locked files (using Windows Volume Shadow Copy service) and it can surpass most similar programs such as SyncToy when it comes to speed (performance). Finally, this software is almost perfect and the most appropriate ending phrase would be "one of the best backup tool I've ever used!".

Not the easiest backup tool (I definitely wouldn't recommend it for a novice user), but by far the most feature-packed one.
Cons:
- The installer tries to get you to install sponsored offers (crapware, which are possibly malicious), which sometimes has awkward wording in an attempt to trick you into installing the crapware. This further prevents me from recommending this software to a novice user.
- You can only copy, there is no option to simply move files. (To do this you would need to copy from folder A to folder B, then have a blank folder C copy to folder B so everything in it is erased.)
- You need to use Task Scheduler to schedule backup tasks, which comes with the inherent flaws and limitations of Task Scheduler.

Fast and reliable. I used another program before but it cannot sync more than 100,000 files, this one can sync 500,000 files. I used it also for copying entire drives or partitions and this software is great for monitoring the progress AND for continuing aborted copy operations.

The best of all I tried (Synctoy, Robocopy, etc.) for backing up 50 laptops to a server. Simple config, nice features: versioning, omitting select folders (like /AppData), daily logs for checking health. Easily automated using Windows Task Scheduler.
Support is excellent, better than I've ever seen from anyone! Zenju quickly found and fixed an obscure bug that was actually Task Scheduler's fault.

Great software! A single minus: there is no indication anywhere of how the program deals with hard links.
I'd love to have the common set of options for dealing with hard links.. Please add this in the next version!